**warning** bad plug wires**

[Zach81]

Just to let you guys know me and my dad put new plug wires on our 310b as it had a bad mis matched set and it had a slight misfire. Went to our local Rural King and got a set of those Tisco brand cut to fit sets. Got them installed and started it up. It ran worse than ever!! Ended up shutting the lights out in the barn and it looked the the fourth of July on those new wire ends arcing to the head. We moved them with a screwdriver and it smoothed out. I dont know if we can take them back, but I sure hope so, cause these are junk out of the box.
 

[John Saeli]

Zach: Electric will take the easiest path. If the spark was jumping through the insulation, then I'd say you had plug problems. My plug recommendation on the 310B is Autolite 3116. They are Non-Resistor.
 

[C. Amick]

Try Brillman.com the next time you need electrical components. I've not had any problems with their plug wires and prices are good.
 

[Klyde]

John, My brother got a set at TS when we redid the 311 and had the same problem. The wire is alright its the boots they put on the ends. The chinamen don"t use silicone for the boots they use some plastic with a lot of carbon in it.
 

[mEl]

John, I recently had the same experience with that brand of wire set. As the other poster said, the problem is the boots, the electricity lights them up and as he said, a lights out look at the side of the tractor was just a mass of current leakage from the boots to the clips and through the spark plug ends to the block. It is definately a wire problem, I was working with a new head replacement on a 770 so all my components were brand new.

mEl
 

[rustyfarmall]

[Zach81]

Yes. Its not the end you make on the distributor that is the
problem. Its the pre made plug boots that are bad
 

[mEl]

Zack, I have made a living out of doing mechanical work on Case equipment since 1962 full time and do not consider myself uneducated about electronics / electrical stuff. I hold a federal license in Amateur Radio having passed the Advanced class licensing requirements which require testing on electrical / elecrtonic theory.

I have made hundreds of wire sets over the years and have used this brand of wire set for years. The last set I used as you described the boots literally lit up with red sparklies where the current was flowing to the clips and jumping to the block just as you described, simply sliding the boot up the wire away from the tower would stop the miss. This is definately an issue with the boots. This is the first time I had any issue with the wire sets. I strip out about 1/4 inch of copper and fold it over, do not solder but do not object to it if you want to. It is still a snap fit in the cap and on the plug and the center of the brass wire end has a spike that goes right up into the conductor. 20,000 -30,000 volts will not be impeded because of lack of being soldered, a properly applied wire end will show no Ohms resistance.

In the automotive world the resistance wire used has a few hundred ohms per foot and the engines run just fine, do not consider this a recommendation for resistance wire, just sayin. Remember, everyone on here is trying to help but have not experienced what you and I have. Those boots are definately conductive, I was forced to use good old boots and no problems once they were installed....mEl